Football betting: over and under what?

Betting on football is fun, but it comes with a learning curve. The excitement only starts once you grasp the jargon.
Some words like underdog and over/under have special meanings in the world of soccer betting. In this guide, we’ll learn what overs and unders mean in this exciting world. If you want to learn what an underdog is, check our guide about this expression and it’s meaning in terms of betting odds.

Betting on goals: over/under meaning in football betting markets:

Let’s suppose a game between PSG and Marseille has finished 1-1. The game had two goals.
Think about it: how can I express mathematically that I have bet on the game having less than 3 goals?
The usual way to do that is to bet on under 2.5 goals. But why?

If I bet on less than 3, but the game has exactly three goals, the bet would end in a mathematical draw between you and the house. This type of betting exists, but it’s a recent one and it exists in the advanced market of Asian Handicap. Check our guides about Asian Handicap betting here.

Let’s keep it simple for now! If you bet on the match to have less than 3 goals, and the house doesn’t want the possibility of a betting draw between you and them, then the use of 2.5 makes sense.
If the game has 3 goals, it means it had more than 2.5, meaning you lose the bet. If the game has 2 goals, it had less than 2.5 goals. So you would have won the bet!

Betting on overs: soccer betting guide on goal markets

Let’s consider the opposite scenario. If you bet on the same game to have more than 2 goals, you need to bet on over 2.5 goals.
In this case, if you bet on a game like PSG 1 – 1 Marseille, you lose the bet because the game produced two goals.

Over/under betting odds

In fact, over 2.5 and under 2.5 are lines. The odds are how much the house is willing to pay if you win. So most games will have the same lines available, but at different prices (odds).
Games involving teams like Manchester City or Real Madrid tend to produce more goals, so the odds for average lines like 2.5 are much lower than matches involving teams that defend a lot and produce less goals in their games.

goal betting: a handicap to the match!

There’s an interesting analogy that makes a lot of sense once you start learning more: the number of goals produced by a match can be compared to a handicap to the match. A typical handicap ‘challenges’ the team to beat a certain number of goals, a virtual disadvantage that only exists in the betting markets.
So if a certain game is prone to producing goals, over/under lines will move accordingly. Is the next game you’re about to watch at home prone to producing goals? So maybe you can bet on overs. Let’s see if the game beats the handicap!